This case study tells the story of a long-standing community self-help effort in watershed management from the island of Trinidad. The Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project (FACRP), which had its genesis in the early 1980s in the informal activities of a small group of illegally settled farmers, is today a nationally recognized and highly regarded initiative. Threats to Trinidad‟s watersheds from activities ranging from urban expansion to poor agricultural practices have generated considerable concern in environmental circles and appear to be increasing. Government policy has increasingly emphasised stakeholder approaches and partnerships with private landowners. However, many watershed settlers lack legal tenure, and formal mechanisms for working with these communities are limited.
Through persistent effort and with the help of a handful of supporters, illegal settlers of the Fondes Amandes hillside community have secured permission, albeit only verbal, to protect a critical portion of watershed above Port of Spain, Trinidad‟s capital, through agro-forestry and fire protection activities that provide income and employment opportunities to the community. In exchange, they have gained reasonably secure use of the land for living and farming. With this assistance and their own ongoing efforts, Akilah Jaramogi and 17 other community members have transformed what was once fire climax grassland into an impressive 30- hectare organic agro-forestry project. Project activities take place on both privately-owned and WASA state land, spanning the lower watershed to the ridge in the upper watershed.
Annual tree planting and fire trace cutting community gayaps are held in support of the re-forestation and fire prevention programmes. At the beginning of the annual dry season, personnel from the fire, forestry and water resources management agencies, together with community members, launch a Forest Fire Protection Programme, which formally and symbolically reaffirms the continuing need for watershed rehabilitation and protection and the desire for continued collaborative efforts. Tree planting takes place at the start of the rainy season and fire traces are cut at the beginning of the dry season. The rest of the year is spent maintaining the traces and creating new ones. The area has been fire free since 1997. In line with its social and environmental objectives, the FACRP has adopted a holistic approach to project development, which goes beyond just watershed reforestation and rehabilitation and now encompasses or has stimulated the following initiatives and achievements:
The establishment of the Clean Trees Organic Nursery (CTON) in 2001 and the conversion of the area into a completely organic project that does not employ chemical pesticides or fertilizers. As the for-profit subsidiary of the FACRP, CTON acts as a community-based organic tree nursery, generating employment and training opportunities for community members. It provides a reliable source of organic inputs (plants and seedlings, manure and compost) to the FACRP‟s reforestation activities as well as to small-scale farmers and other individuals interested in organic methods of farming and agriculture. It also provides landscaping and lawn maintenance services.
Creation of a community-wide composting and recycling programme, established by FACRP in collaboration with CTON.
Launching of Fondes Amandes Community Eco Tours, in 2003, offering tours mainly for schools, although brochures are also sent to embassies. These tours provide information on the project and its activities and on fire prevention. Planning has begun to develop historical and ecological tours which will be marketed to urban tourists, particularly cruise ship passengers.
Training of community members in how to make crafts and other saleable items using the “fruits” of the project. It was intended that craft and cottage industries would be set up in 2003, but this has not fully matured. A cooperative is to be established to facilitate the sale of these items to the public.
Construction in 2001 of a community shelter, a long-standing dream of the FACRP, with support from a local charity. This facility serves as one of the community venues for training programmes.
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Establishment of an education outreach programme that educates school groups about the importance of watershed protection and the benefits of alternative (organic) agricultural practices.
Creation of a cultural and drumming group.
Establishment of a thriving jewellery-making business, run by Akilah Jaramogi, using seeds from the trees planted on the hillside, which now sells its products throughout the Caribbean region.
The most obvious environmental impact of the group‟s efforts has been less fire damage and more trees. Akilah estimates that 1,500 trees have been planted to date and approximately 1,000 have survived. The most important social impact of the project may be the security it has offered members of the community.
The project has been sustained over time through the continued involvement of community members who initially became involved in youth activities organised by FACRP. The project has not had as widespread an economic impact on the community as originally hoped, however, in part because many of the activities provide only seasonal employment. The FACRP offers some employment opportunities and this has increased with the recent award of a government reforestation project which will require some 30- 40 employees. However, the initiatives listed above demonstrate that community watershed management has the potential to support livelihoods, contribute to community cohesion and improve the provision of physical infrastructure, although efforts to secure better infrastructure and water facilities are still ongoing.
While the Fondes Amandes case offers some evidence of the usefulness of economic incentives and rewards in encouraging good watershed practices by communities, it more importantly shows how such instruments may be only one of a complex mix of factors that motivate the actions of watershed stakeholders. In assessing approaches to watershed management, governments, donors, environmental organisations and other interested actors should not assume that any one approach, whether environmental service payments, community-based initiative, or state regulation, is the most appropriate to a given situation. It is more likely that a dynamic mix of mutually reinforcing approaches will have the greatest sustainability and effectiveness. This is however not to say that existing arrangements cannot be enhanced through the use of economic incentives and rewards. Both have clearly been important in sustaining the FACRP, and more systematic and equitably negotiated forms of compensation may be quite useful in assuring the continuation or encouraging the expansion or replication of the existing arrangements. There is little evidence, however, that more market-like instruments based on valuation of and charging users for the services that the FACRP is providing, would be useful or even possible in the existing context and policy environment.
Lum Lock, A., and Geoghegan, T. 2006
3.3.1.3 The Ecosystem Approach to Management
The ecosystem/ecosystem service approach also appears to be taking root in T&T. In April 2002, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) hosted a workshop on scenarios in Port of Spain, Trinidad. A number of local researchers and policy-makers were invited to this meeting, and their involvement sparked interest among a core group to initiate efforts to introduce ecosystem assessments to Trinidad and Tobago. In 2003, a local NGO – The Cropper Foundation – and the University of the West Indies in partnership with several other institutions/organizations initiated and led two sub-global assessments as part of the MA - one of these assessments focused on the Northern Range of Trinidad and the other on the Caribbean Sea (CARSEA).
Having been successfully completed in 2005, the Northern Range Assessment was published as the National State of the Environment Report for T&T in 2005, and it was laid as an official public document in Parliament (Box 3.6). Inspired by the Northern Range Assessment and the thinking of the MA, several other processes in T&T have begun adopting the ecosystem/ecosystem approach to varying degrees, including research, policy formulation (the Draft Forest Policy 2010 is especially recognized in this respect), and project design and implementation. Recognizing that ecosystem assessments are not well integrated in development planning and practice the Caribbean region, the Government of T&T hopes to
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partner with the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre and other local entities to host a capacity development and awareness building workshop on ecosystem assessments and their applicability at the national and regional levels.